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Friday, Feb. 24, 1989 Celebrating the Weber State College Centennial Vol. 49, No. 48 U. S. needs free trade, not protectionism By Lynn Martineau Asst. News Editor Thursday's Convocations speaker, Dr. Douglas Lamont, elaborated on America's current position in the world trade war. Lamont said, "Economic independence is really gone from the U.S. We are really dependent on others for all the goods we like from Japanese cars to Korean Camcorders."We are very dependent on the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans, and economic interdependence has become an American ; way of life, he said. One of the difficulties with economic interdependence, according to Lamont, is it means we must sell more products to remain competitive. He noted that the trade deficit is ; slightly down, but it is still very large. "The U.S. is in an export boom in ' Europe. We are selling more products to Europe. However, we need more and more imports of parts, components and raw , materials, so our trade deficit is not dropping dramatically," said Lamont. ! Lamont quoted Sen. Lloyd Bentson's remarks from the . 1988 vice presidential debate. Bentson said, "It's not good for the , Japanese to own 20 percent of downtown Los : Angeles, it's not good for the Japanese to ' own 46 percent of commercial real estate in . the U.S. they're buying America up I cheap." ', Vice President, Dan Quayle said, he ; liked the idea of foreign investment let I them buy American property, assets and i factories. Lamont said, "Quayle told : Bentson, 'You realize the Japanese are ; producing Honda cars in Ohio and then selling them in Japan.'" Only 350 of the Hondas produced in Ohio were sold back to i Japan, said Lamont. The Japanese have been buying up : American properties and factories at an ; accelerated rate in the past five years in reaction to President Regan's policy of dollar devaluation, said Lamont. The dollar is now down 50 percent from its value, two years ago, against the Japanese yen. "The Japanese have bought American assets at rock bottom prices, and they're expecting the American dollar to go up. They want to make money on the foreign exchange casino, they want to get paid off in dollars that are appreciating," said Lamont. In 1981 America led the Japanese in industry, manufacturing, technology, research development, finance and military power. In 1989 we still lead in military power, but we have traded places with the f v r . i VK : V- . ' J"' Si SYNDICATED BUSINESS COLUMNIST Douglas Lamont spoke about trade wars at Convocation yesterday. He is the author of several Japanese in industry, technology, and finance, according to Lamont. "We are actually not second in the world, but now third. The Japanese are first and the European community has a larger internal market then the U.S.," said Lamont. Between 1984 and 1987, when a lot of foreign direct investment occurred in the U.S., foreign companies producing in America imported a lot of products from books including his most recent pictured here, "Forcing Our Hand; America's Trade Wars in the 1980's." (The Signpost photo: Robert Ledbetter) their home countries to supply their U.S. factories. "We find 45 percent of our foreign deficit can be attributed to those American plants owned by foreigners, producing here in the U.S., are buying their parts, components, machinery and semi-finished goods from Yokohama, Tokyo and Germany," said Lamont. "We have a lot of foreign direct investment occurring in the U.S. and have had for a long time. But the new players are the Japanese, they rank third in foreign direct investment in the U.S. The British rank first in direct foreign investment, the Dutch second, the Canadians fourth followed by the West Germans and the Swiss. Foreigners now have 10 percent of all manufacturing capacity in the U.S. They control six percent of the gross national product of the U.S. They pay $80 billion in corporate taxes and wages, and they make exports from the U.S. to the tune of $55 billion. Lamont talked about the Trade Act of 1988. "This new piece of legislation is designed to protect special interest groups," said Lamont. This new legislation requires Special Trade Representative, Carla Hills, to report to Congress next month on which products are being unfairly traded, which countries are unfairly trading in the U.S. and to recommend which countries will be targeted for trade retaliation. Lamont asked, "Are we going to target the Japanese as unfair traders ... with all the investment the Japanese make in the U.S.? Are we going to target the South Koreans, with 40,000 troops stationed there ... ? "We're probably going to put some defenseless countries on the list friends and allies we've had for a long time who have gotten on the wrong side of one piece of legislation," said Lamont. Lamont said Thailand would likely make the list of unfair traders because it has aggravated the computer industry, the software industry, the music industry and the (see CONVO on page 3) American students world's worst in math, science -- misleading (CPS) The most recent report claiming American students are the world's worst in math is misleading, a University of Akron professor says. The study, released Jan. 31 by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), maintained U.S. students had less math and science knowledge than their counterparts in Ireland, Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. ETS researchers concluded the students' ignorance "pose(s) a serious challenge to our position in the world community." But the study, UA Prof. L.J. Meconi says, doesn't establish American students are in fact bad in math and science. The American teens scored poorly against their counterparts, Meconi suggests, because only the best math students were tested in the five other nations. "In many countries students without a mathematical inclination are placed in vocational schools or directed toward other careers by the time they are 12-years-old," Meconi explained. "In the U.S., all 13-year-olds are educated regardless of their career goals." So, Meconi believes, "only the elite students of other countries were tested. It's not fair to compare their scores" with the scores of American teens. Yesterday, at Weber State College, Convocation guest Douglas Lamont answered a question from the audience regarding Japanese dominance over Americans in math and science on such tests. Lamont said Japanese students learn to memorize well so they can recall information for a test. But, American students acquire a more well-rounded education. However, he said he feels U.S. educational systems should require students to begin studying math and science at a younger age. Meconi, a math education teacher and author of math texts, agrees that the math and science teaching could stand improvement. "There needs to be more real life situations in schools that kids can apply math to. They need to learn to make use of calculators and computers. We need to prepare students for a technological society." Inside . . . News . . . Guidelines set for children in classrooms . . . page 2 Opinion . . . Student Fees Committee can't follow rules . . . page 4 Sports ... Tomorrow, last home basketball game . . . page 7 2 1SS9 19S9 100 YEARS

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Friday, Feb. 24, 1989 Celebrating the Weber State College Centennial Vol. 49, No. 48 U. S. needs free trade, not protectionism By Lynn Martineau Asst. News Editor Thursday's Convocations speaker, Dr. Douglas Lamont, elaborated on America's current position in the world trade war. Lamont said, "Economic independence is really gone from the U.S. We are really dependent on others for all the goods we like from Japanese cars to Korean Camcorders."We are very dependent on the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans, and economic interdependence has become an American ; way of life, he said. One of the difficulties with economic interdependence, according to Lamont, is it means we must sell more products to remain competitive. He noted that the trade deficit is ; slightly down, but it is still very large. "The U.S. is in an export boom in ' Europe. We are selling more products to Europe. However, we need more and more imports of parts, components and raw , materials, so our trade deficit is not dropping dramatically," said Lamont. ! Lamont quoted Sen. Lloyd Bentson's remarks from the . 1988 vice presidential debate. Bentson said, "It's not good for the , Japanese to own 20 percent of downtown Los : Angeles, it's not good for the Japanese to ' own 46 percent of commercial real estate in . the U.S. they're buying America up I cheap." ', Vice President, Dan Quayle said, he ; liked the idea of foreign investment let I them buy American property, assets and i factories. Lamont said, "Quayle told : Bentson, 'You realize the Japanese are ; producing Honda cars in Ohio and then selling them in Japan.'" Only 350 of the Hondas produced in Ohio were sold back to i Japan, said Lamont. The Japanese have been buying up : American properties and factories at an ; accelerated rate in the past five years in reaction to President Regan's policy of dollar devaluation, said Lamont. The dollar is now down 50 percent from its value, two years ago, against the Japanese yen. "The Japanese have bought American assets at rock bottom prices, and they're expecting the American dollar to go up. They want to make money on the foreign exchange casino, they want to get paid off in dollars that are appreciating," said Lamont. In 1981 America led the Japanese in industry, manufacturing, technology, research development, finance and military power. In 1989 we still lead in military power, but we have traded places with the f v r . i VK : V- . ' J"' Si SYNDICATED BUSINESS COLUMNIST Douglas Lamont spoke about trade wars at Convocation yesterday. He is the author of several Japanese in industry, technology, and finance, according to Lamont. "We are actually not second in the world, but now third. The Japanese are first and the European community has a larger internal market then the U.S.," said Lamont. Between 1984 and 1987, when a lot of foreign direct investment occurred in the U.S., foreign companies producing in America imported a lot of products from books including his most recent pictured here, "Forcing Our Hand; America's Trade Wars in the 1980's." (The Signpost photo: Robert Ledbetter) their home countries to supply their U.S. factories. "We find 45 percent of our foreign deficit can be attributed to those American plants owned by foreigners, producing here in the U.S., are buying their parts, components, machinery and semi-finished goods from Yokohama, Tokyo and Germany," said Lamont. "We have a lot of foreign direct investment occurring in the U.S. and have had for a long time. But the new players are the Japanese, they rank third in foreign direct investment in the U.S. The British rank first in direct foreign investment, the Dutch second, the Canadians fourth followed by the West Germans and the Swiss. Foreigners now have 10 percent of all manufacturing capacity in the U.S. They control six percent of the gross national product of the U.S. They pay $80 billion in corporate taxes and wages, and they make exports from the U.S. to the tune of $55 billion. Lamont talked about the Trade Act of 1988. "This new piece of legislation is designed to protect special interest groups," said Lamont. This new legislation requires Special Trade Representative, Carla Hills, to report to Congress next month on which products are being unfairly traded, which countries are unfairly trading in the U.S. and to recommend which countries will be targeted for trade retaliation. Lamont asked, "Are we going to target the Japanese as unfair traders ... with all the investment the Japanese make in the U.S.? Are we going to target the South Koreans, with 40,000 troops stationed there ... ? "We're probably going to put some defenseless countries on the list friends and allies we've had for a long time who have gotten on the wrong side of one piece of legislation," said Lamont. Lamont said Thailand would likely make the list of unfair traders because it has aggravated the computer industry, the software industry, the music industry and the (see CONVO on page 3) American students world's worst in math, science -- misleading (CPS) The most recent report claiming American students are the world's worst in math is misleading, a University of Akron professor says. The study, released Jan. 31 by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), maintained U.S. students had less math and science knowledge than their counterparts in Ireland, Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. ETS researchers concluded the students' ignorance "pose(s) a serious challenge to our position in the world community." But the study, UA Prof. L.J. Meconi says, doesn't establish American students are in fact bad in math and science. The American teens scored poorly against their counterparts, Meconi suggests, because only the best math students were tested in the five other nations. "In many countries students without a mathematical inclination are placed in vocational schools or directed toward other careers by the time they are 12-years-old," Meconi explained. "In the U.S., all 13-year-olds are educated regardless of their career goals." So, Meconi believes, "only the elite students of other countries were tested. It's not fair to compare their scores" with the scores of American teens. Yesterday, at Weber State College, Convocation guest Douglas Lamont answered a question from the audience regarding Japanese dominance over Americans in math and science on such tests. Lamont said Japanese students learn to memorize well so they can recall information for a test. But, American students acquire a more well-rounded education. However, he said he feels U.S. educational systems should require students to begin studying math and science at a younger age. Meconi, a math education teacher and author of math texts, agrees that the math and science teaching could stand improvement. "There needs to be more real life situations in schools that kids can apply math to. They need to learn to make use of calculators and computers. We need to prepare students for a technological society." Inside . . . News . . . Guidelines set for children in classrooms . . . page 2 Opinion . . . Student Fees Committee can't follow rules . . . page 4 Sports ... Tomorrow, last home basketball game . . . page 7 2 1SS9 19S9 100 YEARS